Nothing's working???

[Relayer]

Hi guys. I'm having a real issue. My computer won't boot up. Last night I was attempting to update my video cards bios. It's an MSI 3870. I went to the sight and tried using their auto update utility. I let it scanmy computer and it found an updated bios for me. When I attempted to use the update thuogh, it said that it couldn't find the appropriate device. I tried a few times, but to no avail. While I was doing this windows DL'd an auto update. When I was prompted to reboot I said yes. When I tried to turn my PC back on though, it wouldn't boot up. It turns on, but won't even send an output signal to my monitor.
I had my PC OC'd. I tried clearing the cmos but that hasn't helped. Anyone have anything else I can try? I'm stumped.

System specs. Intel 8200 dual core, MSI radeon 3870 OC, Windows XP pro, Gigabyte x38 ds4 mobo.

Thanks.

 

[Kougar]

You might try placing the GPU into a different PCIe slot but I don't expect that to do anything. I would suggest installing a different GPU to boot the system from, and once you've verified the system works fine you should contact MSI to get support for your card. Unlike most motherboards, most GPU's don't have a backup BIOS.

Unfortunately that doesn't sound promising, the GPU may be unrecoverable. The only option short of MSI support is if you have a PCI-based GPU laying around it may be possible to boot to the PCI graphics card and reattempt to flash the PCIe MSI 3870.

 

[b1lk1]

I agree with Kougar. If it is indeed the video card, using a PCI card to attempt to flash it is the only option short of RMA. I also want to add that it is never a good idea to flash the bios of anything unless there are identifiable problems with the current bios it is running.

 

[Relayer]

Thanks, guys. The only video card I have lying around is a Radeon 7500 AGP card. Will that even work with my mobo?

 

[Merlin]

Thanks, guys. The only video card I have lying around is a Radeon 7500 AGP card. Will that even work with my mobo?

If you have an AGP slot, then yes.
I only know of one board that has PCIe and AGP, and I dont think it's that one

 

[Rob Williams]

It's too late to say now, but GPU BIOS overclocking should never be attempted unless you have a specific reason for it. The fact that the auto-updater would go ahead and flash the card is a little odd, since there's a far greater chance of something going wrong with a GPU flash than a motherboard one. For the most part, flashing your motherboard to the latest BIOS isn't a huge deal, but GPU is a different story. I almost lost a video card the same way, but was able to reflash using the original BIOS. I'm not sure if that's an option here, but I'd definitely recommend contacting MSI.

As for the AGP card, no that won't work.

 

[Relayer]

Thanks for the input. MSI suggests returning it to my retailer to have them recover the BIOS. Problem is there's no local (full service) retailer in Christchurch for the card. NZ is a small market and I'd have to have it curriered to the No. Island. I think my next course of action will be to see if I can install the card into my wife's PC and attempt to reflash it there.
Since it wouldn't accept the BIOS when I tried to update it, which caused the whole problem to begin with, I'm figuring that it won't work any better on my wife's PC. Can anyone explain the procedure for me me, please? Besides using MSI's live update app.

I was having issues with my 3D application (Cinema 4D) crashing with certain OGL settings activated (soft shadows). Which is why I was trying to update the BIOS. I've gone through 4 driver upgrades with no fix. ATI doesn't offer support for Radeon cards used with professional 3D aps. (C4D, Max, etc...). So, I thought possibly the newer BIOS might have fixed it. I figured it was worth a try, anyway. Just an FYI so you'll know why I was trying the BIOS upgrade.

Anyway, thanks for the help.

 

[Rob Williams]

GPU BIOS flashing can be different with each card, so you'd have to read up on it. I've only done it twice, and really don't remember what I did (except that I required a stupid floppy). Hopefully someone else here will be able to offer some advice.

 

[Kougar]

Unless your wife's PC uses an integrated GPU or a PCI GPU, then that is likely not going to be an option. If her machine uses a PCIe slot (Your 3870 is a PCIe slot card), then it will need two of them and you should be aware that if not done correctly attempting this has the potential to flash her PCIe card and ruin that one as well.

Most likely flashing it will require a floppy, as Rob said. Flashing a GPU BIOS from within windows is not very common, and doesn't always work as you found out. Some users can do this via a USB flash drive they made bootable, but that takes a bit of knowledge just to make it bootable.

Here's a good guide for ya to get started with though http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=11

 

[Relayer]

Thanks, Cougar. Her PC has integrated video and a floppy drive. I'll read the info you've posted.